The Works of Aristotle the Famous Philosopher Part 36

The tenth is the signification of honours.

The eleventh of friends.h.i.+p.

The twelfth is the house of affliction and woe.

Now, astrologically speaking, a house is a certain place in the heaven or firmament, divided by certain degrees, through which the planets have their motion, and in which they have their residence and are situated.

And these houses are divided by thirty degrees, for every sign has so many degrees. And these signs or houses are called the houses of such and such planets as make their residence therein, and are such as delight in them, and as they are deposited in such and such houses are said to be either dignified or debilitated. For though the planets in their several revolutions go through all the houses, yet there are some houses which they are more properly said to delight in. As for instance, Aries and Scorpio are the houses of Mars; Taurus and Libra of Venus; Gemini and Virgo of Mercury; Sagittarius and Pisces are the houses of Jupiter; Capricorn and Aquarius are the houses of Saturn; Leo is the house of the Sun; and Cancer is the house of the Moon.

Now to sum up the whole, and show how this concerns Physiognomy, is this:--as the body of man, as we have shown, is not only governed by the signs and planets, but every part is appropriated to one or another of them, so according to the particular influence of each sign and planet, so governing is the disposition, inclination, and nature of the person governed. For such and such tokens and marks do show a person to be born under such and such a planet; so according to the nature, power and influences of the planets, is the judgment to be made of that person. By which the reader may see that the judgments drawn from physiognomy are grounded upon a certain verity.